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Second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece beat fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2) in the final of the Mallorca Championships on Saturday. It was the 23-year-old's first title on grass.
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The match lasted for two hours and 31 minutes and Tsitsipas managed to edge out Bautista Agut in the end. Saturday’s victory should give fresh impetus to Tsitsipas’ title-aspirations at Wimbledon, which gets underway on Monday.
On that note, let’s take a look at three factors that stood out in the match:
#1 Tsitsipas got a double break early and managed to hold on to the lead in the 1st set
Stefanos Tsitsipas got off to a flying start, winning the first four games of the match. He broke Bautista Agut in the first and third games of the set and held his serve in his first two service games. However, Bautista Agut reduced the deficit by winning three consecutive games, including breaking the Greek in the sixth game.
However, Tsitsipas then went on to hold his serve for the remainder of the first set and won it 6-4. The Greek was the more aggressive of the two in the first set and dominated with his powerful forehand. He hit 11 winners against Bautista Agut’s two.
#2 Bautista Agut fought back valiantly to win the 2nd set
Stefanos Tsitsipas once again got off to a good start in the second set by breaking the 34-year-old Spaniard in the third game and racing to a 3-1 lead. However, Bautista Agut then raised his level and won five consecutive games to win the set 6-3.
The Spaniard was a lot more aggressive in the second set and hit 12 winners against Tsitsipas’ three. He started directing most of the traffic to Tsitsipas’ backhand side and the Greek responded with a couple of inside-out forehands. However, the Tsitsipas was no longer able to hit winners off his forehand as consistently as he did in the first set.
#3 Tsitsipas outlasted Bautista Agut in a grueling final set
Stefanos Tsitsipas made a great start to the final set as well, breaking the Spaniard in the fourth game before moving ahead 5-2. However, Bautista Agut showed resilience yet again to win the next three games to level the score.
The set eventually went into a tie-break, which saw the Greek prevail in the end. However, Bautista Agut did his reputation no harm by putting up a spirited display. Both players relied a lot more on subtle touches in the final set and played quite a few drop shots.
Bautista Agut also managed to play a few exquisite lobs to stun the Greek. However, Tsitsipas held his nerve during crucial moments to win his first title on grass. Both players hit 25 winners in the match. Tsitsipas managed to eke out a victory despite having a poor first serve ratio of 55% against Bautista Agut’s 67%.
